


Worth the Risk

by betheflame



Series: POTS Server Stocking Fills 2019 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Steve Rogers, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 08:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21973216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: Steve may be in love with Tony, but they've never met in person. Their entire friendship plus more has been over Discord and StarkCalls. Now that they're about to - he's panicked. But sometimes the scariest things are worth the risk.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: POTS Server Stocking Fills 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569040
Comments: 20
Kudos: 175
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2019





	Worth the Risk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArcadeGhostAdventurer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcadeGhostAdventurer/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [ArcadeGhostAdventurer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcadeGhostAdventurer/pseuds/ArcadeGhostAdventurer) in the [stony_stocking_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  \- Steve and Tony are internet friends. It is their first meet up. (Is Tony still Tony Stark the CEO and Iron Man? Is Steve Captain America or an artist?)  
> ________
> 
> My dear arcade, I hope you enjoy my interpretation of this delightful prompt.

Discord DM for DrCap

  
_DrCap: Are you sure about this?_

_MetalMan: Yes, Steven. I’m sure. I’ve been sure._

_MetalMan: No pressure. That was pressure. Fuck._

_Metal Man: I mean, we’ve been talking for, what, two years? It’s time for a face to face, I think._

_Metal Man: And I got Pepper to block out time in the schedule, which, you know, means I owe her at least forty-five pairs of shoes that would make most women cry._

_DrCap: I’m not any different on here than I am off here._

_Metal Man: You say that like it’s a bad thing._

_Metal Man: I like the you on here._

_Metal Man: That’s sappy._

_Metal Man: Jesus, look what you do to me, Rogers._

_DrCap: Nothing like what you do to me, Stark._

Steve Rogers took a deep breath and stared at his computer screen for a long time, waiting for his ~~true love~~ friend Tony to type back.

“Stevie,” Bucky called from the kitchen. “Sam and I are gonna walk to the bodega. You want anything?”

“Yeah, I need more almond milk.”

“I’m not getting your weirdo nut juice,” Bucky replied. “You can Instacart that bullshit.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but found a fond smile on his face. He knew that when Bucky got back from the corner store, there would be a fresh thing of almond milk in the fridge.

“Do you want any real food?” Bucky continued. His voice got closer as he walked towards Steve’s room. Upon seeing that Discord was open, his eyes got big. “You arranging your date?”

“It’s not a date,” Steve said quickly.

“Yeah,” Bucky sat down on Steve’s bed and all the joking was out of his tone. “But you want it to be, pal.”

Steve felt his face flush and he nodded. “It’s just gonna make it real.”

“That you’re in love with one of the most famous men in the world?” Bucky quirked an eyebrow. “Who has wanted to meet you, oh, fifteen times and you’ve chickened out every single time?”

“Look at me, Buck,” Steve gestured to his 5’5” wirey frame, and then to his pile of medicine bottles on his dresser. “I’m a lame duck and he’s Tony _fucking_ Stark.”

“You’ve video chatted, pal. He’s seen your face. He’s heard your voice. This ain’t gonna be any different.”

Steve bit his lip and didn’t answer.

“Look,” Bucky’s voice was serious, but full of love. “He may be Tony fucking Stark, but you’re Dr. Steven Grant Rogers, the world’s leading authority on World War II patriotic propaganda. You basically resurrected Captain America and Uncle Sam and all that other bullshit to the public consciousness and you’re a goddamn hero to all those college kids and activists who trip over themselves to get you to speak at their events. You've been a working graphic artist since we were, what, fifteen? Just because you always say ‘no’ to the public invitations don’t mean you ain’t the shit.”

“The last time I spoke in public was my defense and I had three asthma attacks from the stress,” Steve defended himself.

Bucky nodded and clasped the back of Steve’s neck with his hand. “I don’t need you to ever leave this apartment professionally. But buddy, the way you talk about Tony, I think he just might love you the way you love him and I do need you to leave the apartment for _that_.”

Steve took a deep breath and looked at Bucky instead of the screen for the first time since Bucky walked in the room. His voice was soft, and full of fear and he was ashamed this was fucking with his confidence this much. “What if he hates me?”

“Then he ain’t the genius they all say he is,” Bucky responded. “And then we go from there and it will probably involve wallowing of some sort, so Sam and I will stock up on whatever dairy-free gluten-free thing will bring you joy and we’ll watch old episodes of _Pete & Pete_. But, buddy, if this guy ain’t worth the risk of trying, ain’t nobody gonna be worth the risk.”

The DM sound chimed from the computer and Steve whipped his head back.

_MetalMan: Sorry, sugar cheeks, Pep needed a signature on something and then I had to do a thing but I’m back now._

“Be brave, Stevie. You deserve it.” Bucky kissed the top of Steve’s head quickly - something that only happened when they were alone - and headed out of Steve’s room.

_DrCap: No problem._

_MetalMan: So, 7:30 at the employee entrance to the Met. A woman named Sylvie will meet you there and then we have the exhibit all to ourselves and then reservations at Monomarte’s, which has food you can eat because Pepper put a threat in the NDA that if they kill my date, I’ll shut them down so fast their head will spin._

Steve’s eyes went wide. “He does think it’s a date.”

_MetalMan: I’ll be the nervous guy in the suit._

_DrCap: I’ll be the equally nervous guy in whatever outfit Sam picks for me._

_MetalMan: LOL._

_MetalMan: I’m good with clothes. I can help Sam in the future._

_DrCap: I’m a disaster._

_MetalMan: Yeah, but you’re my disaster._

Steve giggled at that. Tony had been flirty since they first met in a Discord server that Steve had started as part of his research into military propaganda. He learned later that Tony found it because Jarvis monitored any internet activity where threats to Stark Industries might surface and then Tony just started having too much fun arguing with people. Everyone on the server thought he was a high-up mechanical engineer at some car company. It wasn’t until Steve DMd him to ask him a specific question about something he said that Steve found out who ‘MetalMan’ really was.

The DMs had started slowly, but then their insomnia started to sync up and pretty soon, Steve was basically spending all of his free time in some level of communication with Tony. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he fell for Tony - he sometimes wished he could - but Steve knew he loved the genius.

Which is why he’d been putting off meeting Tony face to face for the better part of a year.

(This logic only made sense to Steve. It drove his three best friends - Bucky, Sam, and Nat - completely insane.)

But now they were going on a date.

_DrCap: Yeah, sure. We'll see once you meet me if you still think that._

_MetalMan:_ _Well, if your vociferous defense of Picard over Kirk wasn't enough to disuade me, I'm pretty sure you're stuck with me, sweetheart._

Steve laughed out loud. He didn't really give a flying fig about _Star Trek -_ he just loved messing with Tony. 

The conversation continued for another few minutes before Tony said he had to go. 

“T minus three days,” Steve muttered to himself. “Plenty of time to have at least seven panic attacks.”

* * *

“But how do I know he wants this?” Tony asked Pepper as they retreated to her New York office after the board meeting three days later.

She rolled her eyes. “You have asked me that - Jarvis, how many times has he asked me that?”

“37 times since Tuesday, Ms. Potts,” the AI replied.

“And what has my answer been each of those times, Jarvis?”

“Sir knows that Dr. Rogers wants to go out with him because Dr. Rogers said yes.”

Pepper shot a triumphant look at Tony. “He said yes. That is all that matters.”

“But -”

“Anthony. Edward. Stark.” Pepper said slowly, making each of his names a sentence. “I have been listening to this _utter nonsense_ about this man not loving you back for over a year. Every piece of evidence you can come up with says that he feels the same way you do - and even all the times you couldn’t meet had very, very valid explanations.”

“He’s so sick,” Tony replied quietly. “And they don’t really know why.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you have terrible health insurance for most of your life - you patch together home remedies and internet advice,” Pepper reasoned. “But you better not propose tonight just to get him better insurance, Mr. Lacks Impulse Control.”

“I wasn’t going to!” Tony protested and Pepper rolled her eyes, but also let her lips curve into a smile.

“I won’t now,” Tony grumbled and Pepper chuckled.

“You always tell me that time is the only thing you can’t make more of,” Pepper said softly. “If he’s worth your time, then he’s worth the risk.”

* * *

Steve’s hands were sweating and he had rubbed them on his pants so many times that the pants were also a bit damp. The Uber pulled up to the door and Steve knocked tentatively. It opened on a smiling woman in a docent uniform and a name tag that read “Sylvie”.

“Dr. Steven Rogers?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve croaked out and produced his ID.

She scanned it quickly and motioned for him to follow her. “Mr. Stark is already upstairs.”

He followed her through winding halls and into a large freight elevator. “Does Mr. Stark often bring people here after hours?”

Sylvie smiled. “No. Ms. Potts often comes with Colonel Rhodes, but this is the first time Mr. Stark has availed himself of his patron privileges.”

Steve processed that information as the elevator stopped and let them out on the 4th floor. Sylvie gestured to the hallway - _Take your first right and then the next left and you’ll find Mr. Stark_ \- and wished him a pleasant evening.

 _Here goes nothing_ , Steve thought. He followed instructions and then stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Tony. This man he’d built up to be larger than life was - in fact - basically his size and something in Steve settled. _This is gonna work_.

At the sound of Steve’s footprints, Tony turned and started walking towards Steve. He stopped just in front of him and smiled. “It’s you.”

Steve could not have kept the grin off his face if someone paid him Tony’s net worth. “It’s you.”

“Can I -” Tony started and then trailed off.

“Whatever the end of that sentence is, the answer is yes,” Steve replied, the words tumbling out of his mouth in an act of unprecedented confidence.

Tony smiled even wider. “Kiss you. The end of the sentence was kiss you.”

“Please.”

As their lips met, Steve heard Bucky’s voice in his head. _I told you, you fucking idiot_. He smiled into the kiss and deepened it. Tony’s hands wound under Steve’s jacket and pulled their bodies closer.

When the kiss finally broke, Tony leaded his forehead against Steve’s. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Steve smiled.

“Wanna tell me about art?”

“Can I hold your hand while we do it?”

“Please,” Tony smiled and the pair took off on a leisurely stroll through the gallery and, eventually, into their happily ever after.


End file.
